Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act: Identifying Areas for Targeted Mercury Cleanup6/15/2021 The Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act was introduced in the Senate on April 22, 2021 (current--117th Congress) by Senator Susan Collins [R-ME] on behalf of Senator Carper [D-DE], where it was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. A version of this Bill was previously introduced in the 110-113th and 115-116th Congresses but did not receive a vote.
THE BILL: S.1345 “Mercury is one of the most persistent and dangerous pollutants, affecting the senses, brain, spinal cord, kidneys, and liver. It poses a particular risk to children and pregnant women, causing an elevated risk of birth defects and problems with motor skills” --Senator Susan Collins “This legislation, paired with efforts to reduce air toxics emissions at the Environmental Protection Agency, can help protect the health of all Americans, especially those most vulnerable.” --Harold Wimmer, President and CEO of the American Lung Association What does the Bill do? Mercury (Hg) is hazardous and extremely harmful to humans and ecosystems. The Bill would build on existing monitoring efforts by creating a comprehensive national monitoring program for mercury, which would be run by the Environmental Protection Agency, and be geared towards protecting human health and the environment. The EPA would work with the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Parks Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, and other appropriate agencies in these efforts. This program would measure, monitor, and track mercury levels over time in different ecosystems (terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine) within national parks, national wildlife refuges, national estuarine research reserves, and communities where people are highly exposed and vulnerable to excess concentrations. Long-term trends in mercury deposition and concentrations within the atmosphere would also be tracked. Samples taken would include depth-resolved and surface-level mercury chemistry in water and soil. Mercury can build up concentration in organisms over time (called bioaccumulation), which is why the US has warnings about eating too much fish in a week. Due to this bioaccumulation, this Bill would require measurements of mercury concentrations in wildlife. Insects, fish, and insect- and fish-eating birds and mammals would be examined for their total mercury and/or methyl mercury levels within their tissue. Importantly, the EPA would be required to publish standardized measurement protocols for the program, to ensure environmental samples would be collected and processed the same way regardless of who takes them so that the data is comparable across all scales and entities. A database would be created to centralize historic and future mercury data and its quality assurance standards so that the data is publicly available on the internet. In the next four years, $37M would be available for FY2022, and $29M for each FY2023 and FY2024. Why was it proposed? Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is liquid at room temperature. At extremely small quantities, mercury is an extremely hazardous and harmful element to humans and wildlife (1). A form of mercury called methylmercury is extremely toxic to organisms and is the form that is mostly found in fish tissue (2). It can cause death, abnormal growth and development, and reproduction issues (3). Even though great strides have been made since the first Earth day in 1970, and mercury exposure has decreased especially when it comes to cleaner air, every year an estimated hundreds of thousands of children are still being born with long-term neurological impairments due to exposure to mercury in the womb (4). Human activity, such as the burning of coal, oil, wood, and waste is responsible for the majority of the mercury released to the environment. The largest source of mercury emissions comes from power plants that burn coal for electricity (44%) (3). Mercury that’s burned can enter the air and be transported to varying distances depending on the form it’s in. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the EPA published the Mercury Inventory Report, which logged the supply, use and trade of mercury in the US (5). Mercury exposures are currently limited by the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). This Bill would support/aid these laws. Benefits This Bill is written so that the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act would be compatible with international efforts to monitor mercury levels, including Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, among others. Additionally, the Bill notes that the sites where mercury is monitored should be co-located when possible with sites from other long-term environmental monitoring programs. Both of these considerations would help to spread out and better coordinate data collection efforts. Additionally, this Bill will help provide scientists and researchers with more comprehensive data on the extent of mercury contamination, which will help to inform targeted pollution reduction initiatives. As mercury contamination is present across the country (2), this Bill would help people living in every state. The Bill was introduced with bipartisan support, showing a combined effort toward a problem that goes beyond political boundaries. Challenges This Bill doesn’t focus on the emitters and their location, but provides data to see where the issues currently are. A focus also needs to be on the emitters to effectively decrease levels, which may require additional costs to improve infrastructure. The distribution of mercury is very widespread because most of it enters the atmosphere through burning items that contain mercury (6). These seemingly small levels of mercury that fall onto land and water by rain and snow can magnify over time in organisms, as smaller fish are eaten by bigger fish. This atmospheric deposition is much more difficult to track than pollution that comes from a single source, such as industrial or mining waste, or un-mined minerals that naturally contain mercury. The Reality of Congress The outlook according to GovTrack's estimated likelihood of passing is 3%. How Republicans see it: The Republican platform supports creating jobs, and here that would include monitoring mercury levels. Additionally, their platform indicates support and better life quality for everyone which seemingly would include those impacted by excess mercury. How Democrats see it: This piece of legislation aligns with the party platform to combat the climate crisis and pursue environmental justice. There seem to be a lot of programs already working on mercury at the state & federal level It is unclear why there is not more support for this Bill, but it may be partially because there are mercury programs in effect bringing hesitation to allocate large amounts of funding when other programs are already addressing the issue or Congress currently has other priorities (especially with the pandemic still at large). Want to advocate? Does this Bill resonate with you? Do you want to see it become a law? Have concerns or thoughts you would like to discuss? In the Senate, the Bill is co-sponsored by Susan Collins [R-ME] and Tom Carper [D-DE]. Do you see your Congresspeople listed? If not, you can email your policymakers by finding their emails at https://www.congress.gov/members?searchResultViewType=expanded or call their offices to voice your thoughts. Remember to use our Resources page for more information and guidance when reaching out! Footnotes
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